Doc: No 'ifs' in Reggie's impossible dream to run again

Photo taken July 8, 2013 : Mobility was a major issue for former Cincinnati Bengals player and Cincinnati City Councilman Reggie Williams. Now he can walk with minimal pain.(Photo: The Enquirer/Jeff Swinger)Buy Photo

Reggie Williams has never lacked for vision and optimism and hope. He has, in fact, built his life and legacy around them. And so now, a man who a year ago could not walk without crutches is planning on running in the near future.

Not running just anywhere, because while running at all would be miraculous for someone who has had 24 knee surgeries, it would not afford Williams the sort of stage he knows such a feat deserves. Reggie's endless rehab has been a lonely experience; the results, though, are worthy of a mountaintop choir.

He wants his first run to be at Paul Brown Stadium. He can see it, clearly enough that it has become part of his already enormous self-motivational catalog. It would occur at a Bengals game, just before kickoff, in front of 63,000 witnesses and two teams of his football-playing heirs. It would be the sort of triumphant appearance Williams never had when he retired, 25 years ago, as arguably the best linebacker in Bengals history.

For him, it would represent a beginning and an end, all at once: The start of a new and improved relationship with Mike Brown and his family. And closure, for all the years of bitterness Williams felt toward the family, for not acknowledging his pain.

"I'll run on that football field any time Mike Brown invites me,'' Williams said Thursday. "I could do it within the next three months. That's possible. It's probable. My whole goal is to run. It's the impossible dream. If Mike invites me, it's a done deal.''

There is no doctor on the planet now – at least none that Williams has encountered – that will tell him anything except amputation is the only option. The technology that would allow Williams functional use of the leg is just beyond the sunrise. It's out there, dawning, mostly as an answer to disabled American war veterans, a notion Williams finds ironic. "Accepting gifts of war, when my problem came out of sports,'' he says. But it's not yet practical.

That doesn't mean Williams will ever quit trying to save a piece of himself that he sees as much symbolic as functional. He believes that losing the leg would invalidate not just his heroic struggle since his retirement, to overcome the multiple infections and ensuing osteomyelitis that ravaged his knee, but also his entire NFL career.

"Losing the leg isn't part of this story," Reggie explained last June. "If I wanted to tell that story, I'd have enlisted in the armed forces, or law enforcement. I put my heart into a (Super Bowl) ring. So much dreamology. If it costs me my leg, was it worth it to play in the NFL? No.''

Three days with Reggie Williams produce eternal truths that are innately understood, if rarely practiced. Reggie makes generic griping seem silly. He shows what can happen when the human spirit is fully engaged. My time with him left me a more grateful human being.

Reggie's also a complex guy, alternately laughing and bitter, angry and at peace, always wanting to be listened to and not just heard. And understood. Reggie has a need to be understood.

What better platform than a football field, in front of a sellout crowd?

He can't run today, he says.

"It's really complicated. We take it for granted. How many times do we see kids fall? I'm a child when it comes to walking and running.'' But Williams says walking is "effortless'' now, achieved with a minimum of pain. Running is the next frontier.

The last year has given him increased peace of mind, too. "I've made a quantum leap away from all the anger that was boiling inside of me,'' he says. "There's a purpose for this pain. Telling the story of meeting this type of challenge helps lots of people seeking answers for their own multiple challenges.''

An outpouring of support followed the publication of his story. "So many blessings,'' Williams says. The football coach at his alma mater Dartmouth, Buddy Teevens, instituted an award in Williams' name, given to the Big Green player who "through leadership in action and word has made Dartmouth a better place.'' Williams presented it earlier this year.

Thousands of comments via social media let Reggie know that, though his fight is solitary, he's not alone. Mike Brown donated what Williams termed a "significant'' amount of money to Dartmouth, on behalf of the Reggie Williams Award.

On Saturday, I asked the Bengals president if he'd be OK with Reggie making a pre-game run at PBS. "I'd be pleased to consider that,'' Brown said. "He does not quit. That's always been a strength of his.''

Informed of Brown's comments, Williams replied, "That will be one of the sweetest moments of my life.''